I feed the dogs twice a day at exactly the same time in two different but adjoining rooms and two are crated to eat....but everyone eats like they have never been fed before ...and I can pick up bowls again for the wash after less then 10 minutes ....if someone does not eat in that time but I believe they are still hungry I give them totally seperate extra time ( in the downstairs bathroom ) and if its still not eten I throw it away...I always and I mean always worry about that dog until the next mealtime and an empty bowl...if two feeds should ever go past without eating anything from the bowl we would go directly to the vet...I regulate thier food intake by weighing and measuring every single bowlfull and have learned to take age and activity levels into account over the years...I believe obese dogs are as much the fault of the owners as starved dogs are...

Agatha, living in a single dog houshold for her entire life, eats every meal as if it is the first food she's seen in months "Oh my DAWG! I'm starving and this is SO good! I've never had anything so yummy! GObble gobble snarfsnarf!!". If I let her, she would eat until she reached *her* personal ideal shape which is something like that of a barrel. The ONLY time she ever refuse food was when she was given one of those big ass hartz beef bones (by my dad) and gobbled it up and she ended up doing the poo fountain thing for 2 days afterwards. Given the level of GI upset that caused, I don't blame her.